In the disk drive, particularly those employing "floppy" disk media, positioning of the read/write elements is often accomplished by actuation in preset steps rather than through feedback driven servo control mechanisms. High information track density in such systems can only be realized through consistently repeatable and accurate stepping such as the mechanically indexed positioning device provided by this invention. The invention may also find applicability in various apparatus which require accurate, small incremental movements.
The invention herein produces accurate angular steps, which are convertible to accurate linear steps by use of a band drive arrangement. Such band drive arrangements are commonly used to convert angular movement to linear movement. See, for an example of this, U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,189, incorporated herein by reference.